I'm sorry
by Lady Merlin
Summary: Dumbledore has...issues... and he has decided to set up a pen pal system in school. well, the rest is history, or strange karma? lily and james... K for romance [oneshot]


Well, it's been done before, but I wanted to try it out. I don't own anyone. Yeahh.

"Girls and boys!" Professor Dumbledore's voice echoed throughout the hall, bringing silence.

"The teachers and I have decided that we shall assign pen-pals to students throughout the school, only no one will know whom their paired with. Isn't that brilliant! Then, on our new year's ball, you shall date each other!" he exclaimed.

"but what if it's a guy?" Sirius asked.

"Then you shall date them!" The whole hall groaned. They knew that being himself, he wouldn't give up the idea. "Now, you'll get our owls!" And as if he'd given a cue, thousands of owls fluttered in. He said above all the noise. "The owl that you get will go only to your partner. Only them. Your ordinary owls will remain safe in the owlery. Now off to bed, chop-chop!"

"But professor!" someone yelled out. No prizes for guessing who.

"yes Mr. Potter."

"Can we name our owls?" he asked.

"well, of course."

"here?"

"well, ok."

The hall dissolved into quiet murmuring. Lily looked at James. He stroked his owl's back with two fingers. "beautiful aren't you?" he asked his snowy white owl with glittering green eyes. "yes, you are beautiful my sweet. I think I'll call you Hedwig." It hooted and nipped his ear. "Yeah, it is perfect." Lily was astounded. She had never known that he was capable of such emotion. She went to her room and sat with her snowy owl and noticed that it had hazel eyes with purple flecks. They reminded her of someone's eyes but she couldn't put her finger on it.

She then decided to write her first letter to whoever it was.

_Dear Pen-Pal_

_Hi, call me Lady Merlin. I know it's stupid, but I don't care. I like it. I'm in Gryffindor. What are you in? What should I call you? And are you a guy? If so, THANK YOU GOD! If you're a girl, erm, I don't turn that way. _

_Night _

In fifteen minutes she got a reply.

_Hi Lady Merlin,_

_I don't think your name is stupid. It sounds magical. No. I am not a girl. I'm a guy. I'm in Gryffindor too. Call me Peeves. _

_Night_

This shows their letters over the months.

_Hi peeves, _

_You're not REALLY peeves are you?_

_Lady Merlin_

_Lady Merlin, _

_Of course not. I just names myself that so that I would remember that he owes me 10 galleons. _

_Peeves_

_Peeves, _

_How did THAT happen?_

_Lady Merlin_

_In another 2 months… _

_Dear Peeves, _

_You know, I'm about to tell you something that I haven't even told my best friends, I think James Potter is actually human. That night Dumbledore announced that they would be assigning us pen-pals, he was stroking his owl. It seemed that he loved it so much. He might not be such an insufferable prat after all. _

_Love Lady Merlin_

_Dear Lady Merlin_

_He is not really. I think he just does that to impress Lily Evans. He loves her so much. He talk about her all the time. I'm Remus' friend and he tells me all of this. He says that James is always on about you even in the shower._

_Love Peeves_

_Dear Peeves_

_Really? _

_Love Lady Merlin_

_Dear Lady Merlin,_

_Yeah. Seriously. I think he loves her. He would jump off the astronomy tower for her. _

_Love Peeves_

_Dear Peeves, _

_He's that devoted? OMG. It's really sad that Lily never pays attention to him. She should be sorry. _

_Love Lady Merlin_

_Dear Lady Merlin_

_I don't think James would want her to be sorry._

_Love Peeves_

_Dear Peeves, _

_Ok. But I still think she's sorry. Now about that up-coming ball, where do I meet you?_

_Love Lady Merlin_

_Dear Lady Merlin,_

_Well, Dumbledore's had this weird idea that we bring along each other's owls so we can recognise each other. _

_Love Peeves_

_Dear Peeves,_

_Ok. That's cool with me. _

_Love Lady Merlin_

Quite obviously, they had fallen in love with each other.

The Ball…

Lily gazed at herself on the mirror. A faint smile appeared on her lips. She was excited about meeting that sweet sensitive boy who she had communicated with over the past 5 months.

She was wearing a strapless rich red silk gown. He delicate hands were gloved in white silk. Her rich red hair was curled up into an elegant bin with a few curls framing her face. Her long swans neck was adorned by a simple silver chain with a dolphin pendant. Her earlobes held similar earrings. She was wearing red dance shoes. She looked amazing.

James looked at himself in the mirror. He looked dashing in his black dress robes. His cuff was crisp and glasses polished. His hair had been flattened with tones of gel. Just when he heaved a sigh of relief, it sprung up. Well, he thought, at least it had lasted for 15 minutes. He held out his hand for _her_ owl to step onto his arm. Once he was ready, he stepped out of the room to the catcalls and whistles of the rest of the Marauders. He blushed. They all looked _hot_. They put on their white masks(Think olden day masquerade balls) and they then made their way to the Great hall.

There all the Marauders except James found their dates. Suddenly, everyone looked at the curved staircases.(Think Sleeping Beauty) On them was a gorgeous girl in a red gown. On her arm was a Snowy owl with green eyes. James couldn't help but hoping. This girl looked beautiful. She walked in his general direction and then towards him. She smiled softly and shyly. "Hi." Came her voice, like bells.

"Hi. I've been waiting so long for this night. I was wondering where you got to." (A/N: I would know. I have this MSN friend. We've never seen him before. He has been asking out one of my best friends and on our 50th anniversary funfair, he came, and didn't show himself. All of us were jumpy beyond compare. That's the rest of my best friends and I. And we were hopping and asking every guy around if he was the one. And then he SMS'ed and told us that he had left. We were ready to kill him. So sorry. Rambling)

She grinned at him. "I have been exited too."

"Would you like to dance?" he asked her. She nodded, thinking how wonderful his voice was.

They swung out onto the floor. Locked in each other's arms, they didn't notice anything around themselves. The gap between them closed up quickly. Her chest was against his and her head fitted perfectly under his chin. They locked in just the right places. The night passed in a dream. Then Dumbledore's voice started them. "The countdown begins---NOW" and the crowd began chanting, -ten, nine…-

"Hey, Lady Merlin, I just wanted to say, that even though you don't like who's under this mask, I love you."

"You know what peeves, I do too." And at the count of one, in total darkness, their masks vanished, and the lights came on again. James and Lily were staring into each other's eyes.

"Oh, sorry." James said embarrassed and sad, about to pull away, when Lily placed a long finger on his lips and smiled, and kissed him.

There. I did it. I know, very disjointed, but my sis's friends were over and well, I was distracted. Sad really. But the plot line's there. R&R!


End file.
